Coronavirus Workplace Policies

Most Important Actions to Take Now

Plan to work remotely if your job duties permit, for an indefinite period -- at least through summer 2020.

Please report a presumptive or confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis to HUHS by email at healthservices@huhs.harvard.edu, even if you do not get your care from HUGHP. HUHS is monitoring cases and trends for our whole community.

Know the signs of COVID-19, as compared to other illnesses. If you are ill, do not come to work on campus. Contact your health care provider to seek advice. Don’t let costs stand in the way of getting the care you need – see these recently expanded COVID-19 benefits from Harvard’s employee health plans.

If you will be working on campus in either laboratory or non-laboratory setttings, please take one of these required COVID-19 safety awareness trainings from Harvard’s Environmental Health and Safety Department (Harvard Key required). If you will be working on campus, read and follow these guidelines for face coverings and masks.

Harvard Coronavirus Workplace Policies (updated 6/04/20)

Harvard continues to place the highest priority on the health, safety and wellbeing of its faculty, staff and students, as well as the wider community. Because of this, most Harvard students are no longer in residence and we have moved many academic programs online.

Most faculty and staff shifted to remote work wherever possible, and indefinitely, beginning in March. Others have been sustaining the essential on-campus services that protect the Harvard campus and community since then. On-campus work in research labs is resuming in some areas.

On the home front, many are grappling with the personal effects of the pandemic on their own health and the health of their loved ones, the effects of sustained social distancing and isolation, state-wide school closures, travel bans and the closure or curtailment of non-essential businesses and services.

These workplace policies were created to provide guidance and advice about how to sustain productive work given these highly disruptive changes. Not every question has been answered, nor every situation anticipated. Please apply them with equal measures of common sense and compassion, consulting with managers, leaders and local HR as needed.